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Astronomy
intermediate

CAPTURE OF TRANS-NEPTUNIAN PLANETESIMALS IN THE MAIN ASTEROID BELT

David Vokrouhlický et al. (2016)

Published
Jul 26, 2016
Journal
The Astronomical Journal · Vol. 152 · No. 2
DOI
10.3847/0004-6256/152/2/39

At a GlanceAI

Five-giant-planet instability simulations explain how outer disk bodies were captured as P/D-types in the belt and in Jupiter’s 3:2, 4:3 MMRs.

SummaryAI

The work links giant-planet instability (including a fifth ice giant) to the implantation of trans-Neptunian planetesimals into stable niches of the inner Solar System, including the main asteroid belt and Jupiter’s first-order resonances. Numerical simulations reproduce the observed radial proportions and maximum sizes of P- and D-type asteroids in the inner/central/outer belt, and also populate the Hilda (3:2) and Thule (4:3) populations. Although the model overproduces >10 km P/D bodies by about an order of magnitude, the authors argue that long-term collisional and dynamical removal could reconcile this. In a Lidov–Kozai context, the paper is valuable as a concrete source scenario that can feed high-inclination, resonance-assisted pathways (e.g., within Jupiter’s MMRs) where LK cycles can later shape eccentricity/inclination and delivery to near-Earth space.

Method SnapshotAI

Numerical simulations of a five-giant-planet instability and planetesimal scattering/capture, compared against asteroid taxonomic and size-distribution constraints.

BackgroundAI

Solar System dynamical evolution (planetary migration/instability), mean-motion resonances, and basic small-body populations/taxonomy; familiarity with secular effects like Lidov–Kozai helps.